Polio and STRIVE

ROTARY CLUB of ANN ARBORSubmitted by Rosemarie Rowney, President-Elect

The Rotary Club of Ann Arbor hit the trifecta while organizing ways to commemorate World Polio Day this year. Three exceptional events are planned for World Polio Day October 24, 2018.

· SPEAKER: PDG Elizabeth “Liz” Smith Yeats is presenting a polio update at the club's noon luncheon meeting on October 24 at Webers Inn in Ann Arbor, the club's temporary home while the Michigan Union is under renovation. Liz is known for challenging Rotarians to learn something new about polio that we didn't know already know.· FRIEND RAISING: Community leaders from government, industry and business are receiving personal invitations to come as guests to the luncheon meeting. Local governments are proclaiming World Polio Day in Washtenaw County and Ann Arbor.

Click on "Read More": for Photos and Purple Pinkie Projects

· PURPLE PINKIES: Purple Pinkie Projects are being planned by Interactors at Pioneer and Huron High Schools. The purple pinkie project grew from actual field vaccination activities. As Rotary volunteers went into communities and villages to administer vaccinations, children that had been given the vaccine had their pinkies dyed purple so that volunteers could easily identify children that had been given the vaccine. The students' idea for a fundraiser is that those contributing $1 would have their pinkie fingernails marked with polish or a marker to show their support for polio eradication. RCAA club members will have a chance to participate in their own Purple Pinkie Project on World Polio Day.

Ann Arbor is a special place to celebrate World Polio Day because on April 12, 1955. It was announced at the Rackham Building on the University of Michigan campus that the Salk vaccine was “safe, effective and potent.” Let's finish this job!

A health worker marks a child's pinkie with purple ink to indicate she has received the polio vaccine during door-to-door immunizations, in a village near Lucknow, India. Courtesy, Rotary International, End Polio Now Resources.